One of the important issues in shooting by air guns is to select the appropriate projectile for different distances of the target. In this paper, the performance of four samples of air gun projectiles (pellets) is studied. The motion of these projectiles is assumed in four degrees of freedom including three translational motions and one rotational motion. The considered projectiles have three calibers of 4.5, 5.5 and 6.35 mm, and four different types, namely flat nose, sharp nose, round nose and spherical. In order to numerical simulation of the problem, after these projectiles have been modeled geometrically, the 3-D compressible turbulent Navier-Stokes equations and dynamic equations of the projectiles motion are solved in a coupled form and in a moving computational grid. The numerical simulation is based on “Roe” scheme with second-order accuracy in space and time using a finite volume method. To validate the computer program operation, the results are compared to valid experimental data. Computed results describe the trajectory, velocity variations and altitude loss of the projectiles with time and location. Comparison of the projectiles performance including the trajectory, velocity variations and altitude loss indicate that the round nose projectile has the best performance in long distances compared to the other samples and the flat nose projectile has a great performance in short distances, while it has a weak behavior in long distances. Additionally, effect of nose shape on the performance of the sharp and round nose projectiles is investigated and the optimum nose shapes are obtained.

This open-access journal is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms.